Blind & conquer: Top 5 Russian radio electronic warfare systems

Russian technology and developments in the field of electronic warfare are among the most advanced in the world and hidden from the public gaze.

Modern military conflicts involve less and less contact fighting. The
wars gradually shift into virtual reality, and opponents often compete not in
firepower weapons, but in the effective use of radio electronic warfare that
can easily deceive the enemy, blind his radars or guide the fired missiles onto
the false targets. RIR decided to lift the veil of secrecy and selected five most effective Russian EW (electronic warfare) systems.

Khibiny: Terror
of the destroyers

This
relatively small container in the shape of a torpedo is mounted on the wingtips
of the aircraft and makes the sky machines invulnerable to all modern means of
defence and enemy fighters. After the crew receives missile attack alert, Khibiny
comes into action and covers the fighter with radio-electronic protective hood,
which prevents the missile from reaching the target and makes it deviate from
the course. Khibiny increases the survivability of the aircraft by 25-30 times.
According to deputy general director of concern KRET (developer and
manufacturer of this EW system) Vladimir Mikheev, all the fighters that Russia
lost in Georgia were naked, ie. without the installed EW means, and this fact
has caused the loss of the Russian military equipment.

Source: Press Photo

By the way,
nowadays Khibiny is being installed on Su-30, Su-34 and Su-35, so the famous
April attack in the Black sea on USS Donald Cook by Su-24 bomber jet allegedly
using Khibiny complex is nothing but a newspaper hoax. The destroyer's buzzing
did take place. This EW system can completely neutralise the enemy radar, but
Khibiny are not installed on Su-24.

Moskva-1: Passive
scout

The modern
radar complex, which Russian troops are about to receive, can see and accompany
all airborne targets at a distance of 400 km (previous similar radar
development Avtobaza could track objects at a maximum distance of only 150 km).
Moskva-1 operates on the principle of passive radar. This means that it does
not emit any signals, only receives and analyses the outer ones. Therefore,
unlike conventional radars, it remains invisible to the enemy. Scanning the
airspace, Moskva-1 determines the type of the object and is able to correctly
classify it as a missile or an aircraft. The station immediately transmits this
valuable information to the command post, and then the operator decides to
destroy the object or not. In addition, Moskva-1 can guide air defence system
to the target, so that it keeps its radar off, staying invisible to the enemy
fire till last.

Moskva-1. Source: Press Photo

Krasukha-2: Iskanders'
defender

Despite its
funny frivolous name, this ground EW complex represents a real terror for AWACS
(Airborne Warning and Control System) aircrafts. Krasukha’s main task is to protect
and to plug the air defence, the ground facilities and to provide security of
troops groupings on the march. PTRC Iskander and other similar complexes are
quite defenceless on the march. Krasukha enables them to easily reach the given
destination and deploy the combat crew. Once Krasukha notices the enemy AWACS,
it affects its radar with an interfering radiation within a radius of 250 km.
Such jamming radio-electronic suppresion makes precise weapon guidance
impossible. Another feature of Krasukha is influencing the brain of the fired
missiles and changing the flight task. As a result of Krasukha's intervention,
the missile begins to see a false target and hits it without damaging the
hardware.

Rtut'-BM: Umbrella
against Grads

This EW
system is one of the most advanced to date. Rtut' (Mercury) is designed to
protect soldiers and equipment from artillery fire, in case the artillery is
equipped with proximity fuses.

In order to
cause irreparable damage to manpower and weapons, proximity fuse must explode
at the height of 3-5 meters. Rtut' affects proximity-fused ammunition
making it explode at a safe height, which keeps the troops intact.

Rtut'-BM (L). Source: Press Photo

It's not only
proximity fuses that Rtut'-BM complex is able to counteract. If necessary, it
can be used to kill frequencies at which the enemy is radio-communicating.

One complex
(similar to an armoured vehicle with a television antenna) is able to protect
an area of 50 hectares.

According to
the developers, Rtut'-BM has a great export potential and can be supplied to
the traditional markets of Asia, Middle East, Africa and Latin America.

President-S: Breaking the Needle:

President-S
is a complex of optical-electronic suppression, which can protect from destruction
any aircraft that is being attacked by missiles fired from MANPADS, equipped
with heat seekers (elements that react to heat produced by the running engine
of an aircraft or helicopter). During test firing, the missiles were fired from
Igla (Needle) at a Mi-8 helicopter, fixed up on a special rig. Missiles were
fired from a distance of 1000 meters, and not a single one reached the target -
all the missiles deviated away from the helicopter and disbanded: missile
guidance system was simply missing the target due to electronic interference
created by the complex.